| Visual Flight Rules (VFR) | Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) |
VFR means Visual Flight Rules. It's a flight in which the pilot must be able to fly the aircraft by looking outside the windows using visual references. Pilot must be able to know where he is and must be able to see other aircraft in the vicinity, avoid them, and also avoid terrain and obstacles.
In order to be able to fly VFR legally, specific weather minimums have been established. They are called VMC, or Visual Meteorological Conditions.
Airspace |
Visibility |
Distance from clouds |
Distance from ground |
|
Control zone |
3SM |
↔ 1SM |
↕ 500 ft |
|
Controlled airspace |
3SM |
↔ 1SM |
|
|
Uncontrolled airspace |
1000 ft AGL↑ |
1SM (day) |
↔ 2000 ft |
|
999 ft AGL ↓ |
2SM (day) |
Out of clouds |
||
999 pieds AGL ↓ |
1SM (day) |
Out of clouds |
||
As long as these minimums are encountered, any aircraft can fly VFR. However, it is prohibited to fly VFR in some classes of airspace, and depending on the class of airspace, services offered from ATC will be different. Sometimes, it is mandatory to request the permission from ATC before entering. In other classes of airspace, radio contact is not even required. Finally, separation between aircraft is different in each class of airspace. For more details, visit our airspace classification page.
VFR flights above 3 000 feet must be flown at appropriate altitude depending on direction of flight (westbound: even altitudes, eastbound: odd altitudes), at each thousand feet, starting at 3 500 feet.
It is prohibited to fly VFR above cities at less then 1000 feet AGL. It is mandatory to always fly at 500 feet or above from ground. These rules don't apply for special flights (police, etc.) as well as during takeoff / landing phases of flight.
Filing a flight plan is a mandatory procedure on IVAO for all VFR flights, even when doing circuits. In the Route section, you can put visual points, or even IFR beacons (VORs, NDBs,..). It is permitted for a VFR pilot to fly airways or IFR beacons to other IFR beacons. It is permitted for VFR pilots to use instruments to navigate. The difference is that they must not depend on it.
If you do circuits, put "CCTS" in the Route section.
For VFR planning purposes, it is important to use the publication called CFS (Canada Flight Supplement). It contains all the information needed on all canadian airports, as well as all preferred routing for VFR flights inbound and outbound to be followed at larger airports. CFS is available in Resources > Charts section of our website.
It is possible to start a VFR flight in weather conditions that are VMC and becoming IMC in flight (Instruments Meteorological Conditions). This means that VMC minimums are not encountered anymore. It is prohibited to fly in IMC conditions while VFR. The best option might be different in each situation. Sometimes, it is better to immediately land at the nearest airport, or to go around the bad weather. If you enter IMC suddenly, it could be better to fly straigh forward and leveled, or make a rapid 180 degrees coordinated turn to exit the conditions. Do not fight against altitude changes caused by turbulence.
Two other solutions are also available. If inside a control zone, it is possible to request a Special VFR authorization. The SVFR can be given by ATC in order for an aircraft to depart of land at an airport within a control zone, as long as the aircraft remains out of clouds and that the reported visibility is not less then 1SM (1/2SM for helicopters). SVFR is not permitted to takeoff at night, except for helicopters.
The other possible solution is to request an IFR clearance from ATC if you are qualified to fly IFR. At that point, you can fly in almost all weather conditions depending on your qualifications and your aircraft capabilities.
If no ATC is available and you need SVFR or IFR, consider yourself as SVFR or IFR with the authorization and fly according to those types of flight. Don't forget to amend your flight plan if you switch to IFR.